One of my friends has spotted herself in Google Street View!

Prize for the first person to identify her*....

*Lizzi, you're not allowed to enter.

I seem to be drinking Nazi Beer

Discovered it in the back fridge of a local off licence the other day. Hoping it doesn't mess with my head whilst I'm asleep, otherwise J may find herself homeless pretty sharpish.

In for the long haul?

Over the weekend, my relationship has survived my nation humiliating hers at football, and a Sunday evening viewing of 'Mamma Mia!'. I believe if we can get through both of those, we can cope with just about anything....

Being healthy rocks.

I'm back in the land of the rumbling stomach once again, after a couple of days feeling decidedly peaky. Following a weekend in the country and a now-hazy conversation around me being a 'typical bloke' round the house, I resolved to start pulling my weight a bit more in the form of cookery. Monday went well - some kind of chicken, tarragon and creme fraiche effort, and I had high hopes for ...

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Another milestone passed

In my (seemingly) endless quest for a healthier and longer life, I reached another watershed today - exactly four weeks ago today I smoked a cigarette for the last time before my current period of abstinence. Which, given the convenience of February being four weeks long, means I can now say I have gone a full month without a fag!

Am highly, highly impressed with myself and am currently ...

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Tabloid scum

Feel obliged to post a link to Graham Linehan's blog post about the shocking story the Scottish Sunday Express ran about the survivors of the Dunblane massacre. He explains things far more eloquently than I ever could, but suffice to say that the paper has impressively managed to publish a story more repulsive, inaccurate and hysterical than any of the Scottish Sun, Daily Record, Mirror or Daily ...

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Le Tracteur

I know I'm posting a lot of ads at the moment (testament to my increasing TV consumption) but saw this the other day for the first time and I love it. At first it just got me all nostalgic for the ads they ran when I was growing up, even though it seemed so totally, Frenchly, up its own arse. And then they go and rinse it by adding in the bit at the end. Genius!

Some of the funniest British comedians of the last 10 years

The other two are James Corden & Matthew Horne, a low rent tribute act milking their 5 minutes of fame for all its worth, to the extent of ripping off "Shaun of the Dead" with their imaginative Lesbian Vampire flick.

Following on from Mitchell & Webb's example in 2007, they're absolutely bloody everywhere at the moment, spreading their brand of not-very-funny comedy every time you turn ...

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My boss took us out for Guinness at lunchtime.

Unfortunately, as token Irishman, this is the pay off he insisted I provide.

3 weeks without a fag

Seems like a hella lot longer. Wondering how long it can be before I lapse. The combination of sun, beer garden and San Miguel yesterday did not bode well, but I hung on. My mouth still tastes like a tramp's armpit though. Wondering how long it's going to take before I start reaping the benefits of my healthier lifestyle, if only because I can have a sneaky tab to celebrate.

Glitz and Glamour

J's working in Hampstead at the moment, and happened across Noel Gallagher on her lunch break today, having a drink in a pub beer garden. This follows up her serving Mike Skinner a pint and IDing youthful Dundonians 'The View' when she worked in the pub.

So unfair - I work in Islington which is resolutely celeb-free, but even when I plied my trade in the 'edgy and vibrant' East End and ...

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Ever wondered what the posh bit of the new Airbus A380 looks like?

For those of us who will never earn anywhere near enough to see it first hand, that nice Stephen Fry has Tweeted a pic (he's en route from London to Singapore as I type). http://twitpic.com/25xwv

Who says Twitter is a meaningless waste of time?

Oi'll get in early

And say happy Saint Paddy's day for tomorrow, to be sure, so it is....

This year will probably be the first since about 2001 that I don't hit a pub somewhere - credit crunchedness and a payday on the 18th of the month means I have hit rock bottom of the old bank account. I saw a couple of moths stumbling about in ski masks in my wallet this morning muttering about "one big job" and then escaping ...

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On a lighter note...

...whilst Rome (or Belfast. Or Alabama. Or Winnenden) burns, the world carries on, inevitably, as normal. Which, in my case, entails having endless rants in my head about the multitude of things that wind me up.

Obese people, for instance. Not only do they take up twice the pavement and walk at half the pace of normal people - they also compound their spatial selfishness by being unable to hang ...

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Belfast looks beautiful on the ITV 10 o'clock news

perhaps not right to focus on that, but it does in a way show how far things have come that the area around the City Hall can provide such a stunning backdrop to the news report.

Equally impressive is the rhetoric coming from all sides and all parties - it's hard to believe that these are the same politicians who used to make me squirm with embarrassment when they were on TV. Who earned their ...

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The only positive thing

Coming out of Northern Ireland at the moment is the universal condemnation of what's been going on over the past 72 hours, with 3 people dead. Even traditional enemies are standing together with a common voice. Whether it will be enough to stop the current events remains to be seen. I think it's safe to say that everyone hopes so, but no one really believes it. Can only hope.

Go me. .

I'm drinking this evening, alone, in toast to the fact that I am 31 years old, have been graduated from university for 9 years, and still don't earn enough money to have to start paying back my student loans. A remarkable feat of non-realisation of potential that I didn't think possible back at the dawn of this brave new millenium. I'm very proud.

Dark days

At Christmas, I was sitting in the car park in Sainsbury's and watched a police car come in, park, and a lone uniformed officer get out. As he walked towards the supermarket I tried to put my finger on why I found it so out of the ordinary and realised that - only a few years ago - you would never have seen a marked police car or a lone uniformed officer walking the streets of Northern Ireland.

...

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Eurosport & Sundays - a match made in heaven

Just finished watching the Table Football World Cup (bit of a walk in the park for the USA in the final against a plucky yet ineffectual Dutch pairing) and now on to the qualifying round for the Brazilian World Touring Car race. In which Lada have a team. There's a whole world out there I never knew existed.

Good to see there's life after Hollyoaks

Wondered what the incessant annoyance coming from the TV was this evening. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and discovered erstwhile Hollyoaks freakshow Toby has got himself a job as the world's most overly-enthusiastic carpet salesman.

It's undoubtedly a nice piece of serendipity that he happens to have been working at the very store where they decided to film the advert. Maybe it's a reward for being top customer adviser in the northwest or something.

Carpet Right Sale Ex..
Watch the ad...

Richard and Judy never called. Harumph.

On my own for the next 6 days as J is off home. Have spent the entire night leading Coventry City to the top of the Coca Cola Championship on the Playstation. Who says I don't know how to have fun on my own?

A star in the making

I got an email today from the production company that makes "Richard & Judy". They want to talk to me after seeing my video of the Rick Astley flash mob on You Tube.

Finally, my genius as a film maker has been recognised. You can see the BAFTA-nominated short below - note the gritty realism and camera work reminiscent of the Dogma school of independent film making practiced by celebrated ...

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First anniversary

Yes, I am celebrating. This time, a whole week ago, I was smoking the last cigarette in the pack. Today, I sit, proud and glowing with health and vitality, after 7 days without a fag. It's not been too awful so far, except for craving a smoke at every point of every day when I would normally been having one. Goddamn my religious devotion to routine.

I had quite a heavy weekend as it happened, ...

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